The present invention relates to a cushion or pad for placement in a shipping container, and more particularly to a collapsible cushion formed preferably of corrugated board, which can be set up easily from a flat collapsed condition. The present invention also relates to a shipping container incorporating such a cushion.
One cushion known in the art is a skid type cushion designed to be laid underneath an article in a shipping container. This cushion comprises a bottom panel and two double walled tubular structures disposed side by side on the bottom panel. The tubular structures are locked in their positions on the bottom panel by lock tabs struck from the bottom panel. The tubular structures also are interconnected and reinforced by end flaps. This cushion is formed from a rectangular blank of corrugated board having its opposite end margins folded along parallel fold lines into the two tubular structures respectively.
The cushion mentioned above must be fully assembled directly from a blank before it is placed in a shipping container. This assembling process, the two tube-forming process in particular, is not only laborious and time consuming, but also physically stressful due to a great deal of wrist-twisting work required in the process. Furthermore, this cushion is extremely difficult to fold flat without full disassembly into a blank form. Apart from the above, a good deal of material is required to form the two tubular structures.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved collapsible cushion for use in a shipping container. Such a cushion should require less material and be easy to manipulate to set up and to fold flat.